Wilding Honeybees: A field trip to Galbreath Wildlands Preserve

New research and impacts on global ecosystems caused by climate change continue to contribute to a change of thinking, where nativeness is not anymore considered to be the only directive principle in conservation biology. In addition, new concepts such as the holobiont (Scott Gilbert), deep ecology, and current conservation biology (Peter Kareiva, Arthur Shapiro, Mark Davis) are contemporary inquiries that challenge default dichotomies.

Naturalized, wild honey bees in remote landscapes are part of novel ecosystems. We have begun a 7-year research project at GWP that investigates their life cycles and status as a co- constituent of a diverse pollinator community. During this field trip, we will visit several bee trees that are dispersed throughout the preserve, and that we located through beelining. We will share priority area foci of our research study and discuss questions of conservation in the time of the Anthropocene. For registration click here.